A film magazine as disclosed in the before-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,848 has a space formed inside the magazine for receiving a package comprising a stack of film sheets located within a bag of light tight material. When the bag is positioned within the magazine and the magazine closed, one end portion of the bag is cut and then the bag is removed from the stack of sheets. As the bag is removed, it is pulled through a pair of stripper bars in the magazine adjacent one side edge of the stack of sheets. The bars are shaped so that a curved slot is formed between them. This curved slot enables the bag to be withdrawn through the slot while the bars block movement of film sheets through the slot with the bag.
Magazines of the kind disclosed in such application may contain about 150 sheets of film, for example. There is a tendency for photographic film sheets in a stack to stick together, especially when they are in a package that formed under a vacuum, and under certain temperature and humidity conditions. When the sheets stick together, it is difficult to remove them seriatim by use of suction cups or other feeding devices. This can result in the failure to feed a sheet or the feeding of more than one sheet at a time. The tendency of sheets of film in a stack to stick together can be overcome by flexing the stack of sheets. However, users of equipment which receive magazines containing film stacks cannot be relied on to always flex the film package to unstick the sheets prior to loading the package into a magazine.